burger menu
✕
Subscribe
✕
Subscribe

FoodTech wishlist for 2019 – DFInsights January 19

Published on January 8, 2019

2018: what has happened – 2019: what to expect

Happy new year!

The start of a new year is always a good time to look back what has happened in the last 12 months and what we can wish to happen next.

First, let’s start with 2018. The year has been great for DigitalFoodLab:

  • there is many more of you reading and following our work and we thank you for that. Don’t forget to share it with your co-workers, they can subscribe here.
  • we have released great content about the European FoodTech ecosystem which has received great coverage and attention
  • we have worked on many projects with great clients, you can learn a bit more here

FoodTech has become even more serious in 2018, which will be a record year in terms of investments with huge rounds (see below). We have seen a definitive tipping point in the way corporates and VCs were looking at the domain. For the later, while FoodTech was mostly a synonym for delivery startups, it is now looked more broadly with interest as a domain with tremendous potential. For corporates, 2018 has been the year were most have understood that their citadel wasn’t impregnable and that “something is happening”.

Beyond Meat in France

Here are 3 wishes we can make for 2019’s FoodTech:

  • Faster growth for successful startups such as plant-based alternatives to animal products. Take for example the above picture is a Beyond Meat burger taken in a restaurant. What is interesting is that it has been taken in a Paris restaurant in late December and how fast the startup has gone from selling a few patties to being global and filing for IPO.
  • New ecosystems which are under construction outside the US (such as India, Israël, France) will continue to grow fast to become regional and even global players
  • A lot of new corporates incubators and accelerators with some bringing value above PR to corporates and startups.

Best wishes for 2019!

Matthieu

Big Deals

Swiggy

Swiggy, one of India’s biggest food delivery unicorns announced a huge$1 billion round. It is the biggest deal yet in a FoodTech startup and it clearly put light on India fast-growing scene.

Dirty Lemon

Few weeks ago we talked about Functional drinks using the example of DirtyLemon. The startup just raised $15 million from Coca-Cola to grow faster and expand its range of products.

Top News

Delivery Hero sells its German operations to Takeaway.com: The Berlin-based Delivery Hero has sold its operations in Germany (including Foodora and other delivery businesses) to the Dutch startup Takeaway.com to focus on other markets. It seems that Takeaway had won an expansive domination war on Germany’s delivery market. It also put a (high) price on Delivery Hero Geman’s operations: €930 million paid in cash and shares. This, after the rumours of discussions between Uber Eats and Deliveroo is a clear signal of a trend toward concentration on delivery startups.

EU-Startups

Don’t call emerging markets’ startups copycats: Often used to belittle startups inspired by US tech giants, the word copycat should be used with more care. Indeed, it helps create new ecosystems of entrepreneurship in emerging markets (and also in developed countries where entrepreneurs are less deified than in California).

Techcrunch

 

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter

Abonnez vous à notre NL mensuelle en Français

Related posts

You're in a good company

Join the 60+ clients of Digital FoodLab: leading agrifood companies, retailers, banks, investors, startups, and public organisations.

✕

Use case: project for a global F&B company looking to map its AgTech innovation ecosystem and the best startups to partner with

What we did:

  • Mapping of the AgTech ecosystem: startups, research regulators, and other leading companies.
  • Discussion to select areas to focus on.
  • Analysis of the information to reveal the trends and a model to analyse eventual partners.
  • A workshop to validate the opportunities based on our recommendations.
  • Scouting of relevant partners followed by introductions.

Results:

  • Mapping the different categories of innovations in AgTech that should be considered now to create long-term benefits for the business.
  • Identification of key partners (an incubator and a couple of startups).
✕

Use case: project for a CPG company on the healthy ageing ecosystem

What we did:

  • Education of the board through a couple of workshops to define the perimeter
  • Identification of key opportunities and threats created by long-term evolutions (technologies, business models, behavioural changes).
  • Deep dives on each of the priority categories.
  • Co-construction of a vision on how the company should address these challenges.
  • Identification of partners (startups, incubators, funds) to move forward.

Results:

  • Creating a consensus on which categories to prioritise and how to address them.
  • Implementation of an open innovation strategy through the development of partnerships.
✕

Use case: project for a global CPG company to develop a strategy on the healthy ageing ecosystem

What we do (ongoing mission on a subscription model):

  • Kick-off where we present an overview of the AgriFoodTech ecosystem to select with the client the categories to cover and for each, the level of information required.
  • Monthly newsletter: each month we send a newsletter with the articles that we have gathered ranked by relevance, their summaries, and a layer of analysis.
  • Database: we set up a personalised database that will be filled month after month with the information gathered on the companies identified for the watch.
  • Workshops: twice a year with the client’s innovation team and other “innovation curious” team members, we present an overview of the evolutions, key trends and a dashboard of the topics followed by the watch.

Results:

  • A clear, regular and evolutive tool to follow what is happening in terms of innovation on key topics.
  • A forum (through the workshops) to discuss innovation trends and new opportunities.
✕

Use case: opportunity screening for an ingredient company

What we did:

  • Kick-off to define the perimeter of the ecosystem studied.
  • Mapping of the different trends shaping the innovation ecosystem of the client.
  • Analysis of the trends on DigitalFoodLab’s trend curve and other relevant frameworks.
  • Workshop to discuss DigitalFoodLab’s recommendations on key trends to prioritise

Results:

  • Shared view of the innovation ecosystem for the client with a view of the trends to prioritize.
  • Clear document (personalised trend curve) that can be easily shared internaly to explain the company’s innovation choices and which can be then updated each year.
✕

Use case: scouting for an agriculture coop

What we did:

  • Kick-off to define the perimeter of the client, the goals of the scouting (partnerships) and the criteria on which startups should be evaluated.
  • Set-up scouting: we selected the first batch of 20+ key startups following the criteria of the client.
  • On-going scouting: then we set up a quarterly scouting of about ten startups.
  • For each scouted startup, we created an ID card with key information such as the business and technological maturity, funding, and corporate partnerships. We also added an explanation of why we selected this startup.

Results:

  • An ongoing and evolutive scouting are matching the client's criteria and its capabilities in terms of deal flow.
✕

Use case: working on an acquisition process for a CPG company

What we did:

  • Kick-off to define what the client is seeking, notably in terms of maturity.
  • Workshop with the client based on a mapping of the different innovation ecosystems adjacent to its activities to select some priorities and discuss inspiring examples of startup acquisition stories.
  • Identification of 20+ targets.
  • Workshop to select the most relevant to engage with.
  • DigitalFoodLab worked as a sparing partner during the acquisition process, notably to help design how the acquired startup could be integrated into the overall company’s strategy.

Results:

  • Different results from traditional M&A processes with a focus on the client’s innovation strategy.
  • Identification of a good match for an acquisition.
✕

Use case: market due diligence on sugar alternatives

What we did:

  • Kick-off with the client to discuss its interest on this category, its expectations and existing level of information (notably on the target company).
  • Mapping of the ecosystem to analyse the different existing alternatives and technologies to compare them.
  • Interview (calls) with relevant startups made by our internal biotechnology expert.
  • Recommendation on whether to invest or not.

Results:

  • Clear view of the ecosystem and of the reasons to believe (or not) in each sub-category.
  • Enforceable recommendations based on facts and expertise.
✕
Get in touch

5 rue Paul Dupuy
75016 Paris, France